30A – Final Reflection

• My most formative experience in this class would have to be when we had to first test the idea for the venture concept we had thought of. To be honest, I did not look forward into the type of assignments we would be doing in this class so I didn't think our idea would stick with us throughout the duration of the course, but in the end I think it made the class better. I really was able to workshop an idea through the duration of the semester and I think I really developed entrepreneurship skills that are vital for success. An experience I'll remember years later is all of the interviews I had to go through to accomplish assignments. Sometimes I would wait until Friday afternoon to do the assignments and it was a pain to find different people to interview, but it really made the hardship worth it. I learned a lot about my product that I would've never even thought of without doing this and I'll remember this for a long time. My most joyous experience had to be the Secret Sauce assignment because when I was asking some of the closest people to me what gave me human capital, I got some really nice responses that I wasn't expecting, and it really brought a smile to my face. The experience I am most proud of myself for is still completing all of the necessary interviews to do assignments.
• At the beginning of the semester we were asked to work on developing entrepreneurial mindsets and I truly feel like I have developed this. After doing weeks upon weeks of doing assignments that incorporate this type of thinking and reinforcing it over and over again I feel that I have come many steps closer to being an entrepreneurship. I feel that I am close to actually being a real entrepreneur, but since I haven't physically produced anything in the real world, not for an assignment, I am not there quite yet. My goal is to get closer and closer to being a true entrepreneur in the minds of my peers and my mind.
• One recommendation I would make to the future students of this class that will embark on the journey is to start your assignments earlier in the week rather than later. Honestly, I would recommend doing assignments ahead of time as well. This is the best advice I can give because the assignments can sometimes require a huge time commitment out of you and on top of other classes, it can make it difficult to stay on top of the work. Especially with the assignments with interviews, those can take awhile to gather the information needed. This will guarantee you succeed in the class. A recommendation I would also make is to make sure that you submit the correct link for the assignment assigned and double check that you declare each assignment, because you don't want to put all the time into completing an assignment and then realizing you get no credit for it. The best way to foster this mindset is to stay proactive and develop a plan of action. Decide when you will get your assignments done each week and make sure to stay focused.

29A – Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:
Nicotine is a highly addictive substance that is commonly found in tobacco products such as cigarettes, but now companies have created new electronic devices to try and help people get off cigarettes, but they inadvertently created a bigger problem. Most of the time people will get hooked on nicotine due to social influences, meaning they see their friends doing it so they are more inclined to try it themselves in order to fit in. My product is designed for these types of people trying to quit their addiction and try to better themselves for personal health reasons. The main force creating this opportunity is the introduction of nicotine products like JUULs that gives teenagers the ease of using nicotine whenever they please. The kind of market for my product would start off locally and if this product were to become widely popular and a huge success it would be nice to expand nationally. Most people I know that would fit into my target audience are currently not satisfying this need with any potential competitor because some people don't see the need for such a product, which in turn makes somewhat of a challenge for my product. This opportunity has the potential to become fairly big depending on how well received people take this product, I firmly believe that there is a big need for something like this and hopefully many others think so too. The window of opportunity for me will be open for as long as there are nicotine products on the market. This probably means for many decades because that's also how long nicotine has been around.

Innovation:

My product exactly is a bracelet or necklace that the user wears and helps relieve withdrawal symptoms a person would get from stopping the use of nicotine after a prolonged period of use. This product can be customized in order to fit the aesthetic needs of the consumer. It works by emitting a safe chemical compound into the body that is able to stop these symptoms effectively, but without the use of more nicotine. I plan on making money from this from primarily an online store at first, but a huge goal to shoot for would be getting this product onto pharmacy shelves. I would charge $30 for a bracelet and $40 for a necklace. For individuals, I will sell my product just as described. For other businesses, I wouldn't sell my product to them except in places where I can sell my product successfully on their shelves.

Venture Concept:

My product would be able to help people that want help stopping their nicotine use. It would be able to reduce withdrawal symptoms with my proprietary chemical that is safe for human consumption. It will be absorbed into the skin via the wearable device and will last roughly a couple of weeks with each replaceable cartridge. This would perfectly solve the opportunity I have selected because there's people out there who are struggling to get off this highly addictive substance Consumers will buy my product because it is unique in the sense that no other company has been able to create a product quite like this. All other competitors have products that actually have nicotine in them.  Relatively speaking, it shouldn't be too hard to get people to switch over because my product wouldn't contain nicotine at all, thus creating a better health atmosphere for the consumer. The biggest competitor right now would be patches because these have been around for many years now and I would be a new entrant in this type of market. Their biggest weakness is that their products still contain nicotine and once consumers are introduced to this alternative they would be inclined to switch. I feel that a big role in my company would be the price point. From a price stand point, my product is relatively cheap, and the replacement cartridges would only cost about $7, in comparison to a normal nicotine patch which retails or roughly $24, but only contains two weeks worth of product. In the short run, the patches may be more cost effective, but in the long run is where my product would shine. This business would be organized in a traditional type of manufacturing facility where there's workers working in the factory and then research and development teams that are constantly improving the product based on feedback. The amount of workers would vary depending on the initial amount of capital raised for this product as well as the amount of growth the business has.

Unfair Advantage:

From the VRIN analysis I found out that having a connection in the doctor world would be the most helpful because with a doctor's seal of approval on my product it would really help boost sales and potentially doctors can even recommend this kind of product to their clients if they're having lung issues from smoking and are trying to quit. Also, this would help achieve an initial goal of getting this product on the shelves of pharmacies.

What's Next:

There's not too much else to add on to the venture besides the fundamental stuff already included in the product, but there's always room to continue improving the product based on feedback. In addition, it would be nice to continue the growth of my company in order to solve an important issue as well as make some money along the way. Also, I could expand my target audience into the older generation and combine the idea of creating new types of wearables that will appeal to people in this age range.

For me:

Personally, in 5 years I am hoping this product is widely successful and the goal is to see people wearing this product wherever I go. In addition, I hope to have created another successful venture by this time and hopefully those are fixing important issues as well. This first opportunity would give me important information and knowledge on how to successfully start a venture and I feel like the next upcoming ventures will be able to be run much more smoothly off the start.

Feedback:

• Focus more on starting locally before continuing to expand outwards
• Potentially manufacture a more wide variety of wearables
• Continue to stress the fact that this product is designed differently than existing nicotine addiction relief products
• Keep an open mind as not every smoker would want to buy this product
• Expand market to include older people on top of the current market of younger college kids 

How I'll Adapt:

• Changed what was written about starting nationally, as I need to start locally and not assume I'll just be starting at a national level
• I'll workshop some potential new wearable ideas and if they are well received by future interviews then I will start to manufacture it
• I shouldn't be discouraged by the fact that in some of my interviews my product wasn't well received and instead I should be taking into consideration their feedback and leaving it at that
• I updated my What's Next section by including how I'll integrate the idea of marketing to another audience as well.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

I would like to think that if this business venture is successful then I would continue to stay with the company until my profits start to decline. I think my profits would continue for at least 5 years and then I would potentially sell the business off to people who will continue the mission of helping people with their nicotine addiction. I will most likely have other ventures running at this time and I will switch my focus onto another one.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I have selected this type of particular exit strategy because I do care about helping people with their addiction, but if sales decline it just shows me that people aren't as interested in my vision anymore and that I should sell the company to other people who want to continue my mission, but with a different spin on it. Also, if sales do decline it would be more costly for me to keep the business running than it would be to just sell it off.

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

I feel like my exit strategy has definitely influenced the way I made some of my decisions. For instance, knowing that I am going to leave eventually has caused me to branch out and network with a bunch of different potential prospects and people who I think will run my company well in the future. In addition, I feel like this networking opportunity has really provided me with different types of potential ideas for business ventures in the future and that will be super important going forward. Finally, I also feel that my exit strategy has forced me to make sure that my current business concept is as best as it can be because if the business was failing it would not be marketable in the future to potential buyers.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general theme of this book is that your mindset orientation is how you show up and turn out in your life. She discusses many points in her book such as genius is made, not something you're born with. Another point she made was that if you are feeling depressed you can either give up and accept that's how you are supposed to feel or you can turn around and change what you do next. These points she made all relate back to her central theme of the book, having a fixed vs a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is defined by people not believing that they can continue to improve in certain aspects in their life no matter what they do. On the other hand, a growth mindset is defined by a person believing that if they put the time and effort into whatever they're doing, they can achieve anything. Her points strive to show that having a fixed mindset is detrimental to your future and can hinder your chances at being successful.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

One of the author's big points in the books was that we should be embracing our failures. From assignment 26, we were tasked with celebrating failure and our experience  with this. This book and that assignment share the common theme of accepting our failures and learning from them. In the book it talks about people that don't embrace their failures have a fixed mindset and as mentioned earlier having that will hurt your ability to grow as an individual. After doing the assignment and reading about learning from our failures, it really helped enhance my understanding of what it means to be able to grow from my failures, so that I can maintain a growth mindset and continue to better myself.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If assignment 26 didn't involve celebrating failures, I would have definitely done that. Since that idea was already used, I would design an exercise that highlights what actions and qualities fit into a growth mindset and fixed mindset. The assignment would start by having the student identify what he or she thinks makes up a growth mindset and then the next part of the assignment would involve them defining what makes up a fixed mindset. Having them list these qualities and actions that make up these mindsets would help the person that's doing the work realize how important your mindset is and how it can really change the course of your life.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

The biggest aha moment that I had was how effort is looked at regarding one's mindset. What I mean by this is that by not showing as much effort into something you are trying to achieve is linked to having a fixed mindset, but I originally thought that if you didn't have to put as much effort into something as someone else and still achieve the same result, it wasn't showing signs of anything bad overall. I learned that just by not putting in maximum effort at all times can lead you into a fixed mindset that what you are doing is the best it can be, but if you put effort into everything you do even if you're already proficient at it, that's how you can achieve greatness. It was an aha moment that really made me think about how important effort is.

26A – Celebrating Failure

1) Earlier this semester I experienced a failure that really hurt me mentally and really affected the way I viewed my education. I was enrolled in business finance and I failed on the tests so bad I had to drop the class. Although I am a freshman, I decided to take on business finance because I really thought I could handle it, but wow was I wrong. On the first exam, I got a grade that I thought would never happen to me and it destroyed my self-confidence. I studied more for that exam than I did throughout all of high school combined and still ended up with an abysmal grade. I thought that maybe I could try and turn it around and still manage to pull myself out of this pit and pass the class with a C, even though I need a B, so I stuck with the class. Again, I worked very hard and spent countless hours studying for the second exam and I did better than the first, but the grade was still something I wasn't proud of. I had failed my expectations of myself again, and my self-confidence went spiraling downwards again and I felt like I shouldn't even be at UF anymore. I feel I should've put more quality of time into studying and I just feel I wasn't prepared mentally enough for this class and what it would require from me as an individual.

2) What I learned from failing at this class on two exams was how I need to fix my priorities and I need to find out how to study better for myself. Personally, I really felt like I could've put more serious time into this class because all of the advice I heard from people who took this class in the past said to study right after the first lecture. I procrastinated and prioritized other aspects of my life and left the studying for the last minute. My grade really reflected this. In addition, I also learned that I actually need to learn how to study properly. I never had to study or put extra time into my work at the high school level and still managed to get straight A's. Going into college I had that same mentality and I really got burned by this. After this failure, I will make sure to improve upon what I have learned.

3) Failure is something that everyone experiences, but not everyone experiences it in the same way. It's hard and can be embarrassing, but it is very necessary in order to grow as an individual and achieve success. Personally, I handle failure almost as motivation. At first it may kick my butt and have me feeling down on myself, but I pull through it and learn from it so that it won't happen again. Telling my parents I had to drop that class after I was telling them how much I was going to ace that class when I enrolled in it was very disappointing to me, but they didn't yell at me or anything, they just told me to improve myself and do better because they know that I can. That helped push me in the right direction and now I feel a lot better about retaking the class in the future. In regard to this class, it really hasn't changed my perspective on failure because I have had this feeling towards failure for a while now, but this class has helped reinforce that idea into my head, so that I won't forget it. Finally, I feel more confident about taking risks though because by doing all of these assignments and learning more about how normal failure is for everyone helps me go through failure easier, thus making it easier to put yourself out there and take more risks.

25A – What’s Next?

What I think is Next:
I think that my company should continue to keep producing the same product, but with the modifications provided by feedback from consumers. I feel that for my venture specifically there isn't a need in order to try and force a new product that will cost a large amount of money to develop and most likely won't have a good return. The ultimate goal is to try and get this product at it's best form in order to keep sales high. This means updating the look, more customization options, and whatever else is important to the consumer.

Existing Market Interviews:
1.  I asked a potential consumer that fits this market and his name is Greg. He is heavily addicted to nicotine and feels the need to quit. I told him about my venture and asked what I should be doing that we're not already and he told me that personally he wouldn't want to wear something like a bracelet or a necklace, but if I were to be able to devise a product that can do similar things. He gave the example of maybe making gum or maybe creating a pill instead.

2. The next potential consumer that fits into my market is Jack. He is also somewhat suffering from a nicotine addiction and he also really wants to stop. I explained my opportunity to him and he really agree with me that my product is something that he would actually buy. He told me that personally I wouldn't need to do much more than what I plan to do other that just maybe some potential design changes.

3. The last potential consumer was Danielle. She is an avid nicotine user and as well as the others also wants to quit this highly addictive substance. I explained my product to her and she thought it was a great start and that she can definitely see how success could come from this. I asked what else I could do that I wasn't planning on doing and she said that I really should try to expand my product line and potentially make different products. She told me that I could potentially make more types of wearables or maybe make something along the lines of consumable like a pill.

Reflection:
After getting these three interviews done it was really eye opening and it kind of made me want to actually expand on my original venture and actually make more products along with the one that I have right now. The first interview made me almost rethink my idea as a whole because he's part of the consumer base that wouldn't actually like to wear my product. On the other hand, the second and third interviews went along with my idea and gave nice ideas on how to improve on stuff that I didn't think of. The second interview showed me that I should really make improvements to my design while the third showed me that there are possible alternatives to what I originally created. After hearing what was said, I learned that I should really create a better plan for the future.

New Market:
I think a market that I haven't really tried to tap into is the older population. I really believe that this is an important part of potential consumers, but I have really failed at acknowledging it until now. My idea could be adapted to appeal to an older audience such as making the wearables more professional looking, so that it could be worn during work.

New Market Interviews:
1. I talked to a friend of my father that still has a smoking habit from his teenage years. I explained my venture to him and he thought it was super unique and he hasn't heard of anything like this in the past. He reminisced with me and said that if a product like this was around back in his day then he might'e not been hooked on nicotine to this day. He agreed with me also that in order to appeal to an older audience you have to make the product with the thought of an older person in mind and make it more professional.

2. I talked to my uncle who is also a big smoker. I explained my idea to him and he really didn't seem too keen on it because he actually enjoys smoking and doesn't see his addiction as a curse. I asked how I could really improve on my product, but he said that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Meaning that he believes that no matter how I change it if people don't see a need for it then people won't buy it regardless of how good the product may be.

Reflection:
What surprised me most of this new market was how similar it actually was to my target market. What I mean by this is that with a few physical changes to the product, it still appeals to the older audience. In addition to this, I also found out that people really won't buy a product even if it fits their needs, they have to actually want to invest their money into something like this. Honestly, this market can be somewhat attractive because there's many old-time smokers who still do it to this day and can't really stop even if their health is on the line. If they are trying to improve their well being overall though this product would be very attractive to this audience just like my original audience. Finally, I believe that some of my assumptions were correct that there was still people that could still benefit from this product and I also believed that some people would want to just enjoy what they enjoy and not be interested in my product.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity:
Nicotine is a highly addictive substance that is commonly found in tobacco products such as cigarettes, but now companies have created new electronic devices to try and help people get off cigarettes, but they inadvertently created a bigger problem. Most of the time people will get hooked on nicotine due to social influences, meaning they see their friends doing it so they are more inclined to try it themselves in order to fit in. My product is designed for these types of people trying to quit their addiction and try to better themselves for personal health reasons. The main force creating this opportunity is the introduction of nicotine products like JUULs that gives teenagers the ease of using nicotine whenever they please. The kind of market for my product would start off nationally and if this product were to become widely popular and a huge success it would be nice to expand nationally. Most people I know that would fit into my target audience are currently not satisfying this need with any potential competitor because some people don't see the need for such a product, which in turn makes somewhat of a challenge for my product. This opportunity has the potential to become fairly big depending on how well received people take this product, I firmly believe that there is a big need for something like this and hopefully many others think so too. The window of opportunity for me will be open for as long as there are nicotine products on the market. This probably means for many decades because that's also how long nicotine has been around.

Innovation:

My product exactly is a bracelet or necklace that the user wears and helps relieve withdrawal symptoms a person would get from stopping the use of nicotine after a prolonged period of use. This product can be customized in order to fit the aesthetic needs of the consumer. It works by emitting a safe chemical compound into the body that is able to stop these symptoms effectively, but without the use of more nicotine. I plan on making money from this from primarily an online store at first, but a huge goal to shoot for would be getting this product onto pharmacy shelves. I would charge $30 for a bracelet and $40 for a necklace. For individuals, I will sell my product just as described. For other businesses, I wouldn't sell my product to them except in places where I can sell my product successfully on their shelves.

Venture Concept:

My product would be able to help people that want help stopping their nicotine use. It would be able to reduce withdrawal symptoms with my proprietary chemical that is safe for human consumption. It will be absorbed into the skin via the wearable device and will last roughly a couple of weeks with each replaceable cartridge. This would perfectly solve the opportunity I have selected because there's people out there who are struggling to get off this highly addictive substance Consumers will buy my product because it is unique in the sense that no other company has been able to create a product quite like this. All other competitors have products that actually have nicotine in them.  Relatively speaking, it shouldn't be too hard to get people to switch over because my product wouldn't contain nicotine at all, thus creating a better health atmosphere for the consumer. The biggest competitor right now would be patches because these have been around for many years now and I would be a new entrant in this type of market. Their biggest weakness is that their products still contain nicotine and once consumers are introduced to this alternative they would be inclined to switch. I feel that a big role in my company would be the price point. From a price stand point, my product is relatively cheap, and the replacement cartridges would only cost about $7, in comparison to a normal nicotine patch which retails or roughly $24, but only contains two weeks worth of product. In the short run, the patches may be more cost effective, but in the long run is where my product would shine. This business would be organized in a traditional type of manufacturing facility where there's workers working in the factory and then research and development teams that are constantly improving the product based on feedback. The amount of workers would vary depending on the initial amount of capital raised for this product as well as the amount of growth the business has.

Unfair Advantage:

From the VRIN analysis I found out that having a connection in the doctor world would be the most helpful because with a doctor's seal of approval on my product it would really help boost sales and potentially doctors can even recommend this kind of product to their clients if they're having lung issues from smoking and are trying to quit. Also, this would help achieve an initial goal of getting this product on the shelves of pharmacies.

What's Next:

There's not too much else to add on to the venture besides the fundamental stuff already included in the product, but there's always room to continue improving the product based on feedback. In addition, it would be nice to continue the growth of my company in order to solve an important issue as well as make some money along the way.

For me:

Personally, in 5 years I am hoping this product is widely successful and the goal is to see people wearing this product wherever I go. In addition, I hope to have created another successful venture by this time and hopefully those are fixing important issues as well. This first opportunity would give me important information and knowledge on how to successfully start a venture and I feel like the next upcoming ventures will be able to be run much more smoothly off the start.